Those Left Behind
by KTMAC92
Summary: Corbin Cousland was a hero but no one who hears the tale of her sacrifice seems to acknowledge the sorrow felt by those who loved her. This story is the account of the tale according to those who loved her most, he brother and sister, and the rogue assasin who left his world behind to follow her. Told from three points of view. FCousland/Zevran, FCousland/Alistair
1. Avry

Oh war is the common cry, Pick up your swords and fly.  
The sky is filled with good and bad that mortals never know.  
Oh, well, the night is long the beads of time pass slow,  
Tired eyes on the sunrise, waiting for the eastern glow.  
The pain of war cannot exceed the woe of aftermath

~Avry~

Many people have asked me as the years go by to tell the tale of the great Hero of Ferelden. Each time I do my best, but I always feel as if I'm leaving the most important parts out of the tale. It seems as time has passed that everyone forgets the most important part about the Grey Warden who saved us all, they all remember that it was she who made Loghain pay for his crimes, they remember that she is the reason their beloved king Alistair rules the land with his Grey Warden wife, they remember that she rallied together a great army and with it drove the darkspawn from the surface and gave her life to kill the archdemon. What they all forget is that she wasn't just a Grey Warden, she was a Cousland, one of the last of her family, she was someone's beloved and she was a sister, my sister, the queen's sister. People talk of the glory of the Grey Wardens, children play at fighting archdemons and long to join the order when they are older. What no one talks about is the pain that she left behind, the pain that is still felt by those of us who knew her. So this is the last time I will recount the story of the Grey Warden who gave her life so that we might live, and hopefully by the end my listeners will feel some of the deep sorrow that those who knew her still carry.

Many years ago – Highever Castle

"Corbin stop cheating!" He ducked threw his broadsword in front of his face in an effort to block one of his sister's blades as she swept a leg around his knees dropping him onto the ground. Laughter from the edge of the yard told him his other sister was watching.

"You'd think you'd have learned that rogues always cheat by now, your job is simply to stop us before we have the chance."

Avry rolled his eyes, "yeah I'd stop you if it was possible, but the she cheats worse than you do, at least you don't involve others when it supposed to be one on one!" He jumped to his feet as quickly as his heavy plate armor would allow him to and brought his broadsword up in front of him and circled trying his best to keep his sister in front of him where he could see what she was doing but before he could take a step her wolf wound between his legs knocking him back to the ground. He'd never understand rogues, a one on one spar was all this was supposed to be, and here he was now fighting not only his sister but her wolf as well. He was fed up with being knocked over. He took a deep breath and moving his sword to his other hand he stood again, this time instead of circling he simply began attacking the moment he was up. With the hilt of his sword he knocked the wolf on the side just hard enough to send it away as he forced his sister to block his sword with her daggers, the moment he had her on defense she was done. In seconds she had his sword point at her throat.

"Dammit Avry, I was winning," she whined.

"No your wolf was winning for you," he paused and looked over at their other sister, "why are we bothering with this? She won't learn to use them if she relies on the wolf during training." Corbin let out a heavy sigh and pouted as she retrieved her long bow from the bench next to their sister.

"Yeah Alleria, its not like I'll ever be any good with daggers, that's your thing, I'm happy with my bow, Seeker can take care of anything that gets close." Avry snorted, that was certainly true, the damn wolf was extremely talented at keeping people from getting anywhere near Corbin during a fight.

"Fine but don't say I didn't try to teach you to defend yourself when you get overwhelmed and all you can do is hit people with your bow." Avry laughed shaking his head. He agreed with Alleria for the most part, Corbin was completely defenseless when she couldn't shoot, but she was so hopeless with the daggers that she'd probably get along better sticking her arrows in her enemy's arms than trying to use the daggers. He was just about to challenge Alleria when Ser Gilmore came into the yard. Avry laughed at the look that passed between him and Alleria. The two of them had been dancing around each other for months now, they had all been great friends when they were younger but lately it was clear there was something more between his sister and the knight, not that they ever seemed to notice that they both felt the same way.

"Your father wants to see you...all of you. He's in the main hall." Avry raised an eyebrow, it wasn't often their father requested to see them all at once. He looked at Corbin who shrugged as they made their way into the castle and through the halls.


	2. Alleria

_Dark to light and light to dark_

_Three black carriages three white carts_

_What brings us together whats pulls us apart_

_Gone our brother, gone our heart_

~Alleria~

Her room was dark and silent except for the sound of her hound Icarus panting at the side of her bed. She was having trouble sleeping. Her father and brother were leaving in the morning, her older brother had left just hours ago. All of them going off to fight the darkspawn and she was to stay here with Corbin and look after the castle while father was away. Suddenly she heard noise from down the hall, at first she assumed it was just servants moving through the halls, then she started to hear the shouts and screams and a crackling sound. Icarus moved to the door and began growling just before the door burst open, one of the servants standing there panting.

"My lady help me! The castle is under attack!" Before he could utter another word an arrow pierced his back and he fell. She reached out to the table beside her door and grabbed one of her small knives which she flung into the archer's chest. Then she hurried to pull on her leather armor and grab her daggers before rushing off down the hall to find her family. As she ran she ran into both guards and the men who were attacking. She didn't take time to see who the men were she simply did her best to cut them down and continue moving. She had just entered the next hallway when she caught sight of Corbin standing in a corner her wolf guarding her as she gave Avry covering fire. Corbin, like her, had managed to put on her armor before leaving her room, Avry on the other hand stood barefoot in the hall wearing only a pair of thin linen breeches and wielding his broadsword. She rushed down the hall to Avry's side just as he brought his sword down through the skull of the last man in the hall.

"Go put your armor on, Corbin and I will guard the hall. Be quick!" He gave her one nod and disappeared through the nearest door reappearing moments later with his plate armor on but not fully buckled. She rolled her eyes and began buckling the left side while Corbin groaned.

"Do you think mother and father are alright? And Oriana and Oren?" Alleria squeezed her eyes shut shaking her head. She couldn't allow herself to think of what might have happened to the rest of their family. For now she could only concentrate on staying alive. And it seemed Avry was of the same mind.

"Can't think about that now, we have to move." He whistled to Siobahn as he started further down the hall, the gray mabari trotted after him around the corner.

Two hours later saw the three of them on the run in the woods with the gray warden their father had introduced them two that afternoon. Their home was gone, their family all dead save for them and their older brother who was off with the army. All Alleria could do was think of that last conversation with her parents. All she had wanted was to stand in the doorway and fight off Arl Howe's men until every last one of them was as hurt as her family was, but mother and father had insisted that they leave and for some reason her siblings had taken their side.

Eventually she had given in and they had fled, and now she was running through the woods with a gray warden heading towards Ostagar and the army and all she wanted was to stop and rest. She was tired, wounded and hurting. She glanced over at Corbin. Her sister looked scared, her knuckles where completely white wrapped around her bow, her face was dirty save for the pale tracks the tears had left behind, and her eyes looked hollow. Alleria turned to look behind her where her brother walked, he looked broken. He walked slowly, only keeping up because when he began to fall behind Siobahn would push him forward with her head, knipping his ankles if he ignored her. Alleria frowned, he wouldn't be able to go on much longer.

She turned and trotted up to where Duncan led their little group. "We've put enough distance between us and Highever haven't we? Considering how little sleep we got I think its time we stop and rest, it'll be dawn in a few hours and if we want to move through the day we'll need at least a short break."

Duncan gave her a sad smile and glanced back at her siblings. She could tell she hadn't fooled him, that he saw how much the two of them needed to stop. "You're right, we could all use some sleep. I'll take first watch, you take second, two hour shifts I think. We'll leave an hour after dawn."

Alleria nodded and turned to see Corbin already sitting against the trunk of a tree. She looked up as Alleria came close and gave her a small smile, but it didn't reach the rest of her face, she still looked like she was in shock.

Alleria put a hand on her shoulder, "get some sleep Corbin you're going to be scouting tomorrow, you'll need to be awake." Corbin nodded as she cast a worried glance toward Avry who was standing at the edge of the clearing staring at the ground. "Is he going to be alright?"

She shrugged, Avry looked so broken. Of course they were all upset over the loss of their home and loved ones. But unlike her and Corbin, Avry had lost the girl he loved more than life. Sarrabel and Avry had been the classic love story, best friends as children then as they grew so did their love. Sarrabel was a guard and during their search for their parents they had run into her and Corbin's best friend Ser Gilmore but she refused to accompany them to where their father was, insisting that she could stay and help the others before following them, she had never come.

Alleria moved to where he stood and put a comforting hand on Siobahn's head, the poor Mabari was whining and circling her master, clearly as worried as his sisters. With her other hand she lifted his chin so that he was looking at her, "Avry come on, you've got to sleep, you're so exhausted you're about to fall over where you stand." He simply nodded and made his way over to where Corbin sat and lay down beside her on the ground. Corbin tugged his pack off his back and slipped it under his head as Siobahn curled up against his side. After making a fire and checking on Corbin and Avry, who were both sound asleep, Alleria finally lay down beside the small fire and closed her eyes.

* * *

Sorry it took so long to update but the first few weeks of classes were a little crazy...and then of course theres been Borderlands2 to contend with.

Gone - Ioanna Gika


End file.
